By Leslie Doyle | 04/16/2025
When we think about essential nursing skills, problem-solving and decision-making come to mind. But what about the emotional resilience skills that are needed to thrive as a nurse? Resilience is one of the most crucial qualities for nurses.
“Nursing can be incredibly rewarding, but it also comes with its share of stress and emotional challenges,” says American Public University Nursing Department Chair and Associate Professor Dr. Tonya Breymier, who has more than 30 years of nursing experience.
With a clinical background spanning obstetrics, post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), telemetry, homecare, community health, and leadership, Dr. Breymier has seen firsthand how resilience impacts the nursing profession. She states, “We spend a great deal of time caring for others and taking care of ourselves, and scheduling time for ourselves is of the utmost importance.”
The American Psychological Association describes resilience as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences.” A nursing career can be incredibly meaningful, but the physical and emotional demands may affect your emotional well-being.
If you’re a nursing student or considering a nursing career, talk to nurse leaders as well as mental wellness professionals about building personal resilience. Learning how to build resilience from the start can help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and may help your patients as well.
Stressors in the Healthcare Environment
The long shifts and time on your feet make nursing a physically taxing job. A nursing career can also take an emotional toll on nurses, especially if they work in a specialized area such as mental health nursing.
For instance, the close relationships that nurses build with their patients and peers can be uplifting, but it may be tough to cope with if patients take a turn for the worse. This type of situation not only impacts employees’ emotional health and productivity but can affect safety. According to Riskonnect, stress is a leading cause of worker injuries.
Uncertainty about the nursing industry also plagues employees in the field. Between the normal tumult that comes with working in healthcare as well as frequent reorganizations, nurses and nurse leaders are faced with a great deal of unpredictability.
This unpredictability is why building resilience should be a fundamental part of nurse education. Building resilience can help strengthen your emotional well-being, whether you’re a nurse or you work in nursing management.
The Positive Impacts of Resilience in Nursing
Resilience in the nursing professional has several benefits, including:
- Increasing employee retention
- Improving patient care
- Providing stress management
- Promoting teamwork
- Fostering moral resilience
- Supporting nurses’ mental health
Increasing Employee Retention
Healthcare environments that encourage nurse resilience are likely to achieve higher retention rates. Resilience in nursing is closely correlated with job satisfaction, according to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Studies also show that emotional resilience can help to mitigate occupational burnout and improve overall morale. Occupational stress is also connected to employees’ level of outlook about their work and their susceptibility to depression.
Improving Patient Care
Having a nursing workforce with strong resilience can directly improve patient safety. Resilient nurses are better equipped to make swift, often life-saving decisions in challenging situations. Additionally, if nursing teams have social supports and a healthy work-life balance, they are less prone to burnout that can result in medical errors.
Providing Stress Management
One of the main benefits of nursing resilience is that it provides nurses with the tools to help manage stress. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “one of the most important protective factors in coping with stress is resilience.” By learning to recover from difficult situations, healthcare professionals are better equipped to overcome adversity, whether it’s a workplace-related situation or an issue with a patient or family member.
Promoting Teamwork
Healthcare workers can gain social support from their colleagues, because few people outside of the field truly understand the day-to-day lives of nurses and nurse leaders. Collaborating with others in the field can be an important bonding experience and provides invaluable peer support when problems arise.
Fostering Moral Resilience
According to Psychology Today, nurses may encounter moral dilemmas in their work and need to cultivate moral resilience. Moral resilience involves learning a set of practices of how to uphold one’s principles and ethical responsibilities in difficult situations. When there are forces outside of one’s control, moral resilience helps nurses stay on course and stay true to their beliefs.
Supporting Nurses’ Mental Health
Nurses who are repeatedly exposed to other people’s traumas may fall victim to compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue can manifest itself in physical and emotional exhaustion that diminishes a nurse’s ability to deliver compassionate care.
Nursing management can play a central role in combatting these emotional challenges by being proactive about providing access to mental health services. Studies have shown that encouraging resilience in nurses has a direct impact on their mental wellness, reducing compassion fatigue and related issues.
Methods for Achieving Resilience in Nursing
There are various methods to help nurses to improve their resilience. These methods involve:
- Enhancing communication skills
- Building an emotional support network
- Focusing on physical health
- Enriching life outside of work
- Prioritizing self-care
Enhancing Communication Skills
It’s common for nurses to face challenges in the normal course of the day. Workplace adversity may involve an unhappy patient or an unexpected medical crisis. However, developing communication competencies can help defuse these situations.
Building an Emotional Support Network
As professionals in a high-stakes, emotionally demanding career, nurses do best when they have family and friends who can bolster them in tough times. Loving, supportive relationships with friends and family can be reinvigorating and also provide a sense of purpose outside of work.
Focusing on Physical Health
Being physically fit can help nurses to reduce their stress and prevent injuries. Getting regular exercise, having good sleeping habits, and eating a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help nurses to be better equipped when job tensions occur.
Enriching Life Outside of Work
Ideally, nurses should prioritize their personal time outside of work. “Schedule time to participate in your hobby or join a support peer group,” recommends Dr. Breymier. “Focus on a positive mindset; start each day by recognizing what you are grateful for. These practices keep stress at bay and provide a level of resilience that is needed to be successful and sustain yourself.”
Prioritizing Self-Care
To stay resilient, nurses need to remember self-care. “Nurses are natural caregivers, often extending their compassion beyond their professional roles,” says Dr. Breymier. “In a profession that constantly demands you to give of yourself, it's crucial to take time to care for yourself. Prioritizing self-care and having the courage to put yourself first regularly will empower you with the strength needed for a rewarding and successful career.”
Self-care activities may include:
- Nurturing interpersonal relationships
- Recognizing your own uniqueness
- Talking about your feelings
- Being compassionate and avoiding self-criticism
- Adopting mind-body practices such as yoga, mindfulness, and meditation
- Participating in self-compassion training
- Seeking professional help if needed
Nurse Leaders’ Strategies for Encouraging Resilience
Empathetic nurse leaders recognize that resilience is a learning process. As mentors, they can support the nursing workforce by encouraging an organizational culture that invests in resilience as a best practice. They can also use different strategies, such as:
- Encouraging resilience practices
- Emphasizing professional development
- Leading by example
- Recognizing signs of low resilience in nurses
- Serving as mentors
Encouraging Resilience Practices
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare systems are more aware of the significance of resilience in the nursing profession. Consequently, some organizations are offering resilience building exercises as well as coping resources.
For example, the Nurse Well-Being Program was created by nurses looking to provide tools to help their peers to manage stress. The American Nurses Foundation launched this program to support resilience in nurses.
Emphasizing Professional Development
Creating a positive path forward that focuses on education can help nurses stay resilient. If you’re currently working as a nurse, you may want to talk with your human resources department or nurse manager for suggestions about professional development programs. Professional development may include finding a mentor, gaining a new certification, or learning a specialty.
“Continued growth is beneficial for continued satisfaction in nursing,” advises Dr. Breymier. “Many of us do not know exactly what future roles we see ourselves in. Beginning at the ADN and BSN levels may be a great starting point.
“After experiencing the field, you will know which path to pursue for a graduate degree. I worked at the bedside for 16 years before I knew teaching was my passion. That led me to my MSN and Ph.D.”
Leading By Example
When it comes to promoting emotional well-being, nurse managers can lead by example, demonstrating how they manage stress and develop their personal resilience. Showing others that it’s ok to seek out help and to prioritize yourself encourages others to do the same.
Nurse manager resilience is a major factor for reducing burnout and encouraging a culture of mental wellness. Nurse leaders can help to destigmatize the need to seek mental health services and encourage an open dialogue among their staff.
Also, nurse management can champion programs around building resilience. These actions help to create an environment of open and honest communication, which in turn can improve nurse resilience and patient care.
Recognizing Signs of Low Resilience
If a nurse or nurse leader sees a colleague experiencing increased anxiety, mood changes, isolation, or illness, that may indicate the colleague is having issues with low levels of personal resilience.
In some situations, resilience training may be helpful. This training involves meeting with a mental health professional to gain support with:
- Emotional regulation
- Mindfulness
- Promotion of positive thoughts
- Coping skills
- Social support access
- Relaxation practices
Serving as Mentors
If you’re in nurse management, you may want to consider serving as a mentor. Student nurses can benefit greatly by learning how you work and how you manage stress.
It’s also beneficial to share what you love about your work and what steps you take when you encounter unexpected challenges. These conversations can help to foster nurse resilience and improve the overall healthcare environment.
Many people enter the nursing workforce for the personal satisfaction of making a profound difference in people’s lives and find that having a purpose is deeply gratifying. However, nurses and other healthcare workers today contend with an array of challenges, ranging from increased workplace violence to higher workloads.
These stressors on nursing teams make resilience building essential. A resilient nursing workforce is better equipped to care for others.
“Pursuing a career in nursing is a noble and fulfilling choice,” says Dr. Breymier. “By taking care of yourself and committing yourself to lifelong learning, you’ll be well-equipped to make a profound impact on the lives of others while enjoying a deeply satisfying career path.”
Nursing Programs at American Public University
For adult learners interested in gaining the knowledge and skills to seek job opportunities in the nursing field, American Public University offers several degree programs:
- An online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)
- An online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with Nurse Leader and Nurse Educator concentrations
- An online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a Community and Public Health Nursing concentration
- An online Master of Science in Nursing (RN to MSN) with Nurse Leader and Nurse Educator concentrations
- An online Master of Science in Nursing (RN to MSN) with a Community and Public Health Nursing concentration
These nursing degree programs include a wide variety of courses so that students can choose the courses that are best suited to their professional goals. Sample courses include transformational leadership and cultures of safety and leadership for the master’s prepared nurse. Other courses include human resource management in healthcare and operational quality in healthcare.
The baccalaureate degree program in nursing and the master's degree programs in nursing at American Public University System are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. This type of specialty accreditation ensures that these degree programs have been thoroughly examined and uphold high academic standards.
For more details, visit APU’s nursing and health sciences degree program page.
Note: These programs have specific admission requirements and may require an in-person activity or practicum. Also, the BSN is not open for admission to residents of Washington, DC or Washington state. The MSN degrees are not open for admission to residents of Washington, DC or Washington state. Please be sure to check your state’s board of nursing licensure requirements prior to enrolling.
CCNE is a registered trademark of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
